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Planet – Water ConservationKey Accomplishments• Darden reduced its aggregate per restaurantwater usage by 16.9 percent between FY08-FY11,exceeding our goal to reduce our per restaurantwater usage by 15 percent by 2015. As a result ofwater-saving initiatives, we reduced and avoidedusing more than 1 billion gallons of water despiteopening more than 200 additional restaurants.• Completed installation of low-flow pre-rinsesprayers and hand-washing sink aerators in our1,900+ restaurants saving approximately 400,000gallons of water per restaurant per year.• Removed “dipper wells” (utensil holders throughwhich water continuously runs) at most OliveGarden restaurants.• Completed conversion of most pasta cookers atOlive Garden restaurants to low flow and moreenergy efficient.• Saved almost 40 million gallons of water at ourRestaurant Support Center (RSC) since it openedin September 2009, mostly due to the use ofreclaimed water for the toilets and irrigation systemat the RSC.• We changed our process for preparing shrimp tomake it less water-intensive. In all these efforts,we have maintained our unwavering focus on foodsafety to ensure any new processes meet ourstrict standards.Our ApproachDarden uses water directly in our operations,primarily in our kitchens for preparing and cookingfood, hand washing and cleaning, as well as inrestaurant restrooms and for landscape irrigation.We also use water indirectly through our purchasing ofa wide variety of foods that require inputs of water toproduce and process. We recognize water is a criticaland strained resource, which is why we have beenworking diligently to understand and reduce our directand indirect water usage.In FY2009, we set a corporate-wide goal to reduceour direct water usage by 15 percent per restaurantby 2015 using FY2008 as the baseline. By the end ofFY2011, we had already exceeded our goal, havingreduced on aggregate our per restaurant water use byapproximately 17 percent.We have been able to achieve such dramatic progressby taking a variety of steps – some seemingly small,others more significant and most invisible to ourguests. And many in partnership with our employeeGreen Teams, which are groups of employees in eachof our restaurants that implement programs aimed atreducing waste and energy and water usage, as wellas identifying new ways to improve the sustainabilityperformance of our restaurants. Collectively this hashad a huge impact.For example, in our Olive Garden restaurants, we aretesting even lower-flow washers. Most of our OliveGarden restaurants have also now implemented a“dipper well” alternative that significantly reduces theamount of water needed to keep the utensils we useto prepare food clean and safe, and in FY2012 westarted rolling out a similar effort in our Red Lobsterand LongHorn Steakhouse restaurants. At the endof FY2011, we finished converting most of the pastacookers at our Olive Garden restaurants to low flow.We are pleased to report our progress, but alsorecognize that the water “footprint” of our supply chainis significantly larger than our own direct use. We areworking through a variety of forums, in particular TheSustainability Consortium, a multi-stakeholder effortworking to quantify the sustainability of products.362012 Darden Sustainability Report

Key InitiativesResponsible Use: While reduced water usage perrestaurant is significantly ahead of schedule, Dardenwill continue to identify opportunities to reduce waterand consider establishing additional goals in FY2013.We are also exploring a range of other advancedtechnology equipment options, such as even lowerflowpre-rinse sprayers and new dishwashers, icemakers and restroom faucets, all designed to reducewater and, in many cases, energy use. We will continuethe use of drip irrigation and more indigenous anddrought-resistant plant species for landscaping at allnew restaurants.New Processes: Green Teams will beginimplementing an enterprise-wide, 30-point leakinspection process at restaurants and we will initiatepilots to phase-out “dipper wells” at Red Lobster andLongHorn Steakhouse, a process which has been verysuccessful at our Olive Garden locations.We are launching the Cleaning Chemical UsageImprovement initiative in our Olive Garden restaurants,designed to educate employees about the properuse of “the right cleaning chemicals, in the right way,using the right amount.” In addition to reducingDarden’s cleaning supply usage, the initiative willreduce water usage by minimizing or eliminating theneed for re-washing.Darden is also changing the process for cleaning icebins in restaurants so that ice is removed (rather thanmelted with hot water) prior to cleaning – a changewe estimate will save approximately 4 million gallonsof water a year.Planet – Water ConservationWater Withdrawal and and Discharge DischargeAverage Water Withdrawal(kgal) Per Restaurant-21.9%3,4143,2412,8592,668RedLobster-15.6%4,0913,9223,5943,452OliveGarden-3.7%1,5471,4761,3831,489LongHornSteakhouse8.2%2,1982,2912,4842,380CapitalGrille-14.8%5,1704,6404,0284,403BahamaBreeze-22.0%2,9362,1612,4952,290Seasons52Average WaterWithdrawal (kgal)Per Restaurant3,342 3,180 2,879 2,775All Restaurants-17.0%All Restaurants5,616,1465,552,8445,190,4855,180,505-7.8%*Total WaterWithdrawal (kgal)All Restaurants5,238,8015,192,1664,837,3674,695,337-10.4%*Total WaterDischarge (kgal)FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011*From FY08 – FY11 there was an increase of about 200 Restaurants2012 Darden Sustainability Report37